by Madeleine Hubbard
Top Israeli ministers are threatening to quit, which would cause the government coalition to collapse, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agrees to President Joe Biden’s cease-fire proposal.
A senior Israeli official said that Biden’s description of the cease-fire proposal, which he unveiled Friday, was “not accurate,” NBC News reported Monday.
“It’s strange that they say it’s an Israeli proposal and at the same time that Israel needs to agree to it,” the official said. “Israel has not changed its conditions to reach a permanent cease-fire. That will only happen after our objectives are met including destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.”
During a meeting Monday with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Netanyahu said, “The claims that we have agreed to a cease-fire without our conditions being met are incorrect,” according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (pictured above, left) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (pictured above, right), both right-wing members of Netanyahu’s coalition government, have threatened to quit if Netanyahu agrees to Biden’s cease-fire proposal. If they leave the coalition, it could cause the government to fall and force an early election in Israel.
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Photo “Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich” by Government Press Office of Israel. CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo “Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir” by איתמר בן גביר. Background Photo “The Knesset” by Beny Shlevich. CC BY-SA 3.0
